America First. Veteran preferred.
Three ways to back StoneForge before it opens publicly. Read the writing, take a Founding Member seat, or grab Early Access to the platform itself. Each path covers a real cost and converts to something real at launch.
The honest version. The architecture is done. One hundred seventy-six RFCs. Four thousand sprints. A working system with audit logs, a verb-class permission grammar, and an agent-versus-human distinction at the envelope level. Built solo over the last ten months on a fixed budget, written between truck-stop wifi sessions, with the kind of attention to detail you only give a thing when there's no Series A to throw at a refactor.
The funding meeting last Wednesday didn't land. The runway runs out tomorrow. The three options below keep the lights on while the platform reaches v1.
The writing plus the private channel.
Where it goes: keeps the writing shipping. Reward is the writing itself.
Subscribe on Substack →Plank Owner tier. Same thing, the original name sticks.
Where it goes: keeps the lights on through v1. Your $50 comes back at launch as platform value (sans software fees).
Become a Founding Member →Get the platform itself, before public launch.
Where it goes: covers infrastructure costs of running you a seat now. Your $50 comes back at launch the same way as the Founding Member tier.
Sign Up for Early Access →Founding Members and Early Access seats both get their sign-up fee back at launch — your choice of how. Pick a free month of the platform's Pro tier (no software fees that month), or take it as $50 in token credit you can spend across any workflow on the platform.
The whole point of the platform is a system you can configure to your own needs in thirty minutes — your own secure AI harness, your own institutional knowledge as an AI manager and organizer. If your use case needs features that aren't there yet, we add them for you.
Weekly architectural writing. One Substack post per week, every week, for as long as runway permits. Each post distills one piece of the architecture, one incident in the AI-infrastructure space, or one design decision from the 176-RFC corpus. No content farming. No vendor-handout reposts. Just the work, written down clearly.
A private channel for paid subscribers. Threaded discussion on each post, plus open Q&A on what's getting built next. Founding Members get pinned-comment authority. Everyone gets a vote.
Monthly group call for Founding Members. Hour-long video conversation, one Saturday morning a month. Roadmap review, technical deep-dive on one post topic, open-floor questions. Recorded for asynchronous Founding Members who can't make the live call.
Public roadmap, kept current. The roadmap lives on the site. Founding Members' input weights it. Changes are documented in writing so the contract is visible.
An honest progress update if the runway changes. If something material shifts, paid subscribers hear it first. Including bad news. You're funding the work; you get the truth.
Founding Member vs. Plank Owner — are those different?
Same tier, two names. "Plank Owner" was the original framing (you helped lay the planks of the platform); "Founding Member" is the conventional name. Both refer to the $50 Substack Founding tier with the launch reward attached.
Founding Member vs. Early Access — which one's for me?
Founding Member is for people who want to back the writing + the platform direction (Substack tier + roadmap vote + monthly call). Early Access is for people who want a seat ON the platform itself, pre-launch (configure your own AI harness, request features). Same price, same launch reward. Pick the one that matches your intent — or take both.
When does the platform itself open?
When v1 is ready. Target is fall 2026. Founding Members and Early Access seats get first-look access before general announcement. If the runway is tight, Founding Members vote on the order of work.
How does the $50-back-at-launch work?
At launch you pick one of two options. Free Pro month: first month of the platform's Pro tier is on us — no software fees that month. $50 token credit: a one-time grant you can spend across any workflow on the platform. Either way, the sign-up fee converts to platform value at launch. We pick at launch so we know what Pro pricing actually is.
Is this a charity or a business?
A business. We're building infrastructure that enterprise buyers will pay real money for. The Founding Member + Early Access models are how we close the gap between "architecture is done" and "first paying enterprise contract." It's the readers' contribution, and the contract is that the writing keeps coming and the platform reaches v1.
Why not just raise venture capital?
Tried that. Funding meeting last Wednesday didn't land. The Founding Member model lets us pick our investors directly and skip the convertible-note math. The readers who think the architecture argument is right are the readers who decide what gets built next. That's a better deal for both sides than a Series A would have been.
Can I read the writing before paying?
Yes. Every post has a free version. Read the Substack or browse the Engineering Notes on-site first, then decide.
Do you take crypto / wire / one-time donations?
Founding tiers go through Substack (card or PayPal). Early Access goes through the platform's own checkout. For one-time support outside the subscription, write in and we'll point you at the right channel.
What does "America First. Veteran preferred." mean?
Both literal and a values statement. Full position is here. Short version: this platform is built in the United States, by an American, with American-first hiring priorities and a veteran-preference policy for the team we eventually grow. The architecture's open principles serve everyone; our employment and partnership decisions don't have to.